And Another Opinion!

There was a time when people had ridiculous ideas about education of girls & about the continuity of ancestral occupation in a family. With time though, the most ludicrous of them were rejected & ultimately we rid our minds of many old superstitions & beliefs that maybe looked good only with the ancestors from antiquity. Some of them, unfortunately, in the name of tradition still continue to cling to the foundation of our society & some still, as have the disguise of religion…persist to sit in the very base & the worst thing to mention is -none of us now seems willing to shun these parasitic traditions out.

This particular night, I have the *shab-e-Barat* or celebration of *Laylat al-Nusf min Sha’baan (the middle of Sha’baan)* as an example.

Just because mum always made *soji ka halwa* & had it distributed throughout the street, Grand pa always had a *pulao ki deg* made on the special day, chachu always brought crackers & candles for the celebration of night, & just because their elders always kept doing the same, on the same day….never implies that we too have to follow the tradition & accept it as it is, without even knowing why we are doing that. & if you have those answers, well…let me reel off the answers most of people have for those celebrations, for you:

1- People’s lifespans are decided & written on that day, or it is decided who is to die in the coming year, so it clearly becomes the night of saying prayers.
2- Because all about the life is decided on the day, this one is auspicious for family gatherings & people should gather together in the manner of an EID to celebrate the day.
3- As the day is auspicious, one should fast on the day too.
4- For the Fasting & prayers of night, one should be rewarded with the celebrations on the next night, the cracker & lightening part folks.

These are the beliefs that we keep for celebration of *shab-e-barat* but if we actually think this is a religious issue, have we ever tried to trace back its religious authenticity??

In al-Saheehayn it is reported from ‘Aa’ishah (RA) that the Prophet (SAW) said:
“Whoever innovates something in this matter of ours [Islam] that is not part of it, will have it rejected.”

In Saheeh Muslim it is narrated from Jaabir (RA) that the Prophet (SAW) used to say in his Friday khutbahs: “The best of speech is the Book of Allaah and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (SAW). The most evil of things are those which are newly-invented, and every innovation (bid’ah) is a going-astray.”

So the Ahadeeth clearly state that one should seek the truth in all cases from the Holy Quran & Sunnah, & those who innovate something new in Islam are doing the most evil act (even if the intention is pure). So if we want to single out the day & night for fasting & worshipping, we must have some clear example of that from the life of Rasool Allah (SAW) or from holy Quran.

In al-Saheehayn, it is narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Whoever prays qiyaam in Ramadaan out of faith and seeking reward, Allah will forgive him his previous sins” and “Whoever spends the night of Laylat al-Qadr in prayer out of faith and seeking reward, Allah will forgive him his previous sins.”

So if we find any evidence of Rasool Allah (SAW) advising the Ummah to say special prayers in a night, we only find that about *laylat-al-Qadr* & never about *Shab-e-Barat* or even *shab-e-Mairaj*. The advice as well as Sunnah, the practice by Rasool Allah (SAW)…as no body ever stated that he (SAW) singled out this day & night for special worship. If he (SAW) never said or did any such thing & if we find no evidence of any special night except for *laylat-al-Qadr* from Holy Quran, who are we to decide it on our own that shab-e-barat is an auspicious night & we’d be pious to go through special worship this night, even when Rasool Allah (SAW) never did??

There are some Dai’f (week) & mawdoo’ (fabricated) narrations as to the speciality of this night, but then again, there were strict ruling against them.

Imaam Abu Bakr al-Tartooshi (RA) said, in his book al-Hawaadith wa’l-Bida’: “Ibn Waddaah narrated that Zayd ibn Aslam said: "We never met anyone among our fuqahaa’ who paid any attention to Laylat al-Nusf min Sha’baan, or who thought that this night was any more special than other nights."

It was said to Ibn Abi Maleekah that *Ziyaad al-Numayri* was saying that the reward of Laylat al-Nusf min Sha’baan was like the reward of Laylat al-Qadr. He said, *If I heard him say that and I had a stick in my hand, I would hit him. Ziyaad was a story-teller*.

So do we now say we fell for story tellers’ tricks??

Based upon all these evidences & on the base of finding no authentic evidence form the Life of Rasool Allah (SAW) of singling out this day & night for special worshiping, or any thing from Holy Quran for that matter…wouldn’t it be right to tell ourselves, we only follow this tradition cause we saw our mum doing that & she saw her mum doing that!!!
But here’s a question, if your mum’s mum never let her go to university cause she thought it was a *shrine to infidelity* & your mum would have the same thinking when it was your time…how much of your favor would she have in it???

It’s time that we open our eyes & think out of our own minds & stop following traditions just because they were always followed.

Allah knows the best…may we be guided by HIM!
JazakALLAH n stay blessed! =)